Leviathan Falls: Book 9 of the Expanse (now a Prime Original series)

Probably best hardcore sci-fi book anybody could read.

First of all, its a great and satisfying end to the entire Expanse series. The authors have ensured there Novels' story arc remains true to their orginal thoughts instead of getting impacted by the TV Series (For example - Alex dies in the TV Series but doesn't happen in the Novels). Occassionally, it feels a little stretched especially chapters on Aliana Tanaka and Kit/Rohi Kamal but I think it was needed to set the appropriate context for the final, climactic and epic ending. So Only if you ignore these little chinks you would really enjoy the whole. The ending ties up many knots without explicitly bringing in the extraterrestrial little green men.Coming to the actual story, the novel picks up from where it left at the end of Tiamath's Wrath and the higher dimensional beings beginning to have more and more impacts on the Ring Gates and the Ring space. I particularly liked Elvi's chapters because we get more scientific discussions and experiments being conducted. Its upto Jim, Naomi, Alex, Amos to save humankind and they do it in style. Teresa's role was very less even though she is a very important character. Cara and Xan continue to contribute to Elvi's experiments and are very likeable characters (Don't miss them in the Strange Dogs Novella and also the 6th Season of The Expanse TV Series). Without giving spoilers, I must add that the primary antagonist Admiral Winston Duarte has a very key role to play and how it all comes to an end.For the fans of Rocinante, good news is that it survives but I will not give any further details. Read it for yourself. I can't imagine any other ending other than the logical ending that authors have given. Kudos to Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. And dont miss the Epilogue and I liked it very much as much as the whole novel. After reading the epilogue, it seems there is more story to tell, may be, any future spin-offs of The Expanse. Will be waiting for it ...........

So this is more of a review of the series than this final book in particular. It has been some adventure. The first book is almost a standalone, with Miller's chapters feeling completely different than the rest of the series. Then we have the duology of the next books which bring us to the opening of the gates. We then have another standalone in Cibola Burn before another duology detailing Marko Inaros and the Free Navy before ending with this trilogy and the fight with Laconia and the enemy of the protomolecule builders.I also think that this is one of the best cast of characters I've ever read and then says something. Yes each can be annoying but that's realistic yeah? They've grown and changed but still seem recognizably themselves which reminds me of my own friends, some I've known over thirty years and though obviously they've changed, they still remind me of the kids we were. I also really like how many potential conflicts between them were solved fairly easily, usually by talking it out; mad stuff I know!The story is also truly epic. I'd thought it was big at the start with most of the solar system colonized to some degree but obviously that didn't last after book 3. Yes there were outright 'villains' to deal with but honestly most of time I could see where they were coming from. They might have come to some crazy solutions (looking at Marcos here) but they mostly all had legitimate concerns and problems with the establishment they were fighting against. It all gave a very realistic vibe to the series, sometimes depressingly so.On a related note, I think the show was hard done by as I found the last series a bit of a letdown. It was too short and I still don't know why they included the Strange Dogs short story unless they were going to do something with these last three books. It needed more time to spend with these characters like we got here and because they had to leave the whole protomolecule part completely out, it felt like you were missing half the story. Thankfully we got nearly all our questions answered here. It was sad but not unexpected.This is one of the first science fiction series I've truly gotten invested in and I am so glad the author's nailed the ending, for such an epic series it deserved it.

I arrived late to the series, so I had the chance to buy and read the first 8 books in paperback, but then book 9 came out only in hardcover. I read some reviews and it seemed that man people did not enjoy book 9 as the rest of the collection. Because book 8 had a great round ending, I decided to wait for the paperback edition. And I waited more than a year for it, with actually low expectations.I finally got book 9 on the 13th of Feb, the day it became available.I started reading and after 3 pages, I was hooked. I had forgot how believable, consistent and generally great the universe of the series was. Internally consistent characters, technology, etc. No ex-machina last minute savings. Unexpected twists that were in the end consistent with the rest of the story.What can I say? It is a fantastic finish for a great series. To me the best ever space adventure. For those that watched the TV version, in the books, Alex Kamal is still alive and well. It was so great to meet these characters again.I cannot recommed enough this book and this book series.The only negative thing I can think of and to mention something, is that I would have liked to read more about what happens to all characters after the main story ended. But leaving it to the reader imagination works too.

Definitely a must read to finish the series. Softback but it's comfortable to read and bend the pages and covers to suit ones reading position - wherever you are.